UCI IMIG: Outreach

At UC Irvine School of Medicine, you'll find that there are many students who are passionate about helping people in need. UCI SOM students are a diverse and creative lot and consequently this assistance via outreach programs comes in many forms. So, in order to make the process of investigating the various interest groups a tad easier, we've compiled a fairly complete list of UCI SOM outreach groups with accompanying contact informatoin and a short description of the program itself. These outreach groups are all doing great work, and can always use more help. So, if you have any questions or are simply ready to sign up, please e-mail the appropriate contact below. If you don't find what you're looking for and decide to create your own outreach program, please let us know so we can add your outreach group to this webpage.

UC Irvine Outreach Clinics

The UC Irvine Outreach Clinics is a non-denominational organization that is committed to delivering high quality medical care to individuals who have limited access to health services and insurance. Currently, we operate out of the Village of Hope’s Hurtt Family Clinic and serve Santa Ana, Tustin and neighboring communities. We strive to provide comprehensive care to our patients by offering health care services, wellness education, social services, basic medications, referrals, and, if they are eligible, assistance in obtaining health care coverage. While we would like to serve everyone, our clinic is intended to catch those who fall between the cracks of the current health care system, the uninsured.

The clinic is completely run and supported by students under the guidance of our medical director, Dr. Emily Dow. We aim to provide a collaborative and respectful environment where patients, health professionals, and students work together and learn from one another. The UC Irvine student volunteers represent a broad range of studies, from medical and nursing to undergraduate and graduate. At the clinic, student volunteers work in interdisciplinary teams alongside community collaborators and under the guided supervision of licensed practitioners.

Medical Spanish (Elective)

Given the growing number of monolingual Spanish-speaking patients medical students encounter in their clinical experiences, the Medical Spanish elective is an effective practical course for students of diverse levels of fluency. Whether students have never learned Spanish previously or are intermediate speakers or beyond, the goal of the class is to enable students to conduct competent medical interviews in Spanish. Students will develop strategies and resources allowing them to continue becoming fluent in Spanish after the end of the course.

The class is divided into 2 parts:a 45-minute lecture with structured practice; and a 45- minute Standardized Patient session. Aspects of the medical interviews are: greeting the patient; medical history; physical examination; instructions about pharmacotherapy and diet; prevention and health education; cultural norms and values. Students will receive transcript notation with attendance at least 8 of 10 sessions.

Social Medicine Elective

The Social Medicine elective raises student awareness and understanding of disease beyond the molecular level, exploring how political, civil, cultural, economic and social forces profoundly impact health and medical practice in the 21st century.

Social medicine is an active field, with many prominent medical schools devoting entire departments to the study. By bringing enthusiastic experts to share their knowledge in a series of lectures and discussions, this brand new elective brings this insight and commitment to UCI. We hope it will attract applicants to UCI SOM who are committed to serving the underserved. We strive for all students who take the elective to recognize the interconnectedness of society and medicine in their practice and compassionately advocate for human rights in their communities.

Medical Initiative Against Homelessness (MIAH)

Medical Initiative Against Homelessness (MIAH) is a group that is comprised of medical students, undergraduates, law students and nursing students. MIAH helps run mobile clinics throughout Orange County. They work closely with homeless families living at motels in Costa Mesa and Anaheim by providing tutoring, exercise programs and classes on health and nutrition. The club has been extremely active since its conception in 2008 and has received several large donations that ave made many of MIAH's projects possible.

UCI Emergency Medicine Interest Group (EMIG)

Currently, EMIG is the largest and most active interest group at UCISOM with approximately 20% of the student body involved. As an EMIG member, students take advantage of several opportunities to learn more about a career in EM. With help from faculty and residents, EMIG regularly hosts lectures and workshops to teach all UCI medical students about topics such as residency planning, splinting, suturing trauma, visual diagnosis, and emergency ultrasound.

Additionally, EMIG members pride themselves in founding the first ever biennial Southern California Emergency Medicine Symposium, the only student-to-student EM meeting in the country. The 2007 symposium attracted over 150 medical students from the western US, and featured didactic lectures and hands-on workshops from EM faculty as well as student research mini-oral presentations. The 2009 symposium was held on February 7th at the Doubletree Hotel in Orange, CA.

In 2008, EMIG held its second community outreach project, an opportunity for medical students to impact the local community by staging real-life scenarios involving emergency medicine for the students of Santa Ana Valley High School.

Finally, as a UCI EMIG member, medical students have the opportunity to become actively involved in local and national Emergency Medicine organizations. Current positions held by EMIG members include: President, AAEM Medical Student Section, AAEM Western Region Representative, AAEM Communications Committee Member, Cal/AAEM News Service Co-editor.

Pediatrics Interest Group (PIG)

Pediatrics Interest Group: We have monthly meetings with pediatrician guest speakers and invite anyone interested in pediatrics to join us. Topics range from panel discussions on pediatric residencies to talks on pediatric sub-specialties to seminars on how to conduct Well-Baby Checks. There are also opportunities to shadow pediatricians in the community through PIG. We are expanding our involvement in the local community through participation in CHOC Walk in the Park, health fairs, and others.

Family Medicine Interest Group (FMIG)

The mission of FMIG is to expose medical students to the possibility of a fulfilling career in Family Medicine. Throughout the year, we offer lunch talks, residency panels, as well as dinners with Family Medicine doctors. Students can further explore the specialty through the UCI Family Medicine Scholars Program and the California Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP) Summer Preceptorship Program.